Devolatilization technology and reactors have been around for some time. Devolatilization reactors are used to dry and extract light gaseous materials from a feedstock material. Generally, a bed of feedstock is heated within a vessel or stages within multiple vessels. The feedstock is subjected to heating at either atmospheric or raised pressure, and may be in the presence of steam, oxygen, air, and/or some other gas to release the volatiles within the feedstock.
There are a variety of systems and methods for devolatilizing a material. Devolatilization is a mechanism for all thermochemical processes (pyrolysis, combustion, gasification), especially for a feedstock with a large amount of volatile matter. Current technology exists for removing volatiles from wood material, energy crops, agricultural and food residues, or the like. Although current techniques may provide a way for devolatilization, they have limited control over the process which can minimize operating efficiency.
In addition to limited control of the devolatilization process, many other issues exist with current systems, including: material bridging, the potential for mixing heating fluids with feedstock, limited residency time within the reactor, minimal surface area between the feedstock container and heating fluid, and limited ability to measure thermodynamic properties of the feedstock during devolatilization. This list is merely exemplary and other issues and challenges certainly exist in practice.
Thus, an improved devolatilization system for chemically separating volatiles from fixed carbon in feedstock is desired to improve the performance and quality of the feedstock devolatilization process.
The foregoing background discussion is intended solely to aid the reader. It is not intended to limit the innovations described herein, nor to limit or expand the prior art discussed. Thus, the foregoing discussion should not be taken to indicate that any particular element of a prior system is unsuitable for use with the innovations described herein, nor is it intended to indicate that any element is essential in implementing the innovations described herein. The implementations and application of the innovations described herein are defined by the appended claims.